GWU squads jump back into Big South action Saturday on road

Thursday

After the holiday break, both Gardner-Webb University basketball squads leap back into Big South Conference play on the road – at separate locales – on Saturday afternoon.

Coach Chris Holtmann’s Runnin’ Bulldogs are 8-6 overall this season as they dive into their conference opener at 3:30 p.m. at Campbell University (5-9). Coach Rick Reeves’ Lady Bulldogs (7-5, 0-1) travel to take on Longwood (7-6, 1-1) in Farmville, Va., in league action as well.

The GWU men’s team hopes its preseason work that made a lot in the league take notice, can continue. The ’Dogs have beaten DePaul, took nationally ranked Illinois to the buzzer, and lost a tough road encounter to another Big 10 team in Iowa.

One of the reasons for Gardner-Webb’s success is the Runnin’ Bulldogs are setting the pace in scoring defense for the Big South. Opponents are scoring a mere 57.1 points/game versus GWU. Part of that is the Bulldogs are locking up opposing shooters and limiting them to a league low 39.7 percent field goal shooting so far. GWU is also tops in the league among the men’s teams with a plus-2.79 turnover margin this season.

GWU is led in scoring by a pair of sophomores with Donta Harper producing 14.3 ppg and Max Landis 10.9 to date. Senior Kevin Hartley is pulling down 6.4 rebounds per game for the ‘Dos with Tyler Strange is fourth in the conference with 4.5 assists a game.

It’s a sign of GWU’s balance that Strange is the only Bulldog player in the top five in the Big South in any individual statistical category. That could change with senior Tashun Newsome now recovered from a lingering back problem that severely cut into his playing time before Christmas.

The Lady Bulldogs have already won three more games than they did all last season. One reason for the GWU women being above the .500 level is that the squad currently is ranking in several national statistical categories.

Gardner-Webb is 40thin the national in scoring defense giving up just 53.8 points/game, and is also 40thin blocked shots per contest with a 4.8 average.

The GWU women are 21stin overall in three-point field-goal percentage, holding opponents to a 36.4 percent accuracy rate from long range. The Lady Bulldogs are also 43rdin the nation in rebounding margin so far pulling down 7.3 more off the boards than opponents.

The Lady ’Dogs carry a three-game win streak into Saturday’s contest with the Panthers. GWU is getting double-digit scoring from Jasmine Dale (11.3 ppg) and Catrina Green (10.6), who also rates fifth in the conference with 9.0 rebounds per game. Dale is tops in the league in three-point shooting, making 47.3 percent of her long-range attempts.

They face a Longwood team that picked up its first Big South win ever recently against Radford.

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